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A Home With a Little Less Waiting

The Buyers Patricia Roman and William Soto with Max. They have a spectacular view, sunrises included.Credit
Caleb Bryant Miller for The New York Times

At first, Patricia Roman and William Soto expected to buy a home in southern Brooklyn. That’s where, for $1,500 a month, they rented a two-bedroom apartment across from Coney Island Hospital, where both work.

“I was never late,” Mr. Soto said. Nor was Ms. Roman.

“It was 210 footsteps from my bedroom to my office,” she said.

Their day-to-day lives involved much waiting. In the morning, Ms. Roman, who like her husband is in her mid-40s, awakened early to be first in the shower in their one bathroom. Their teenage son was next and, by the time Mr. Soto got there, the water was tepid.

They also waited at the laundromat, to which they had to drive.

As for parking, the street spots were often taken by hospital personnel. So, to nab a spot in the evening, they shot for either 7:30 p.m. or midnight, when the shifts changed.

About a year and a half ago, with interest rates low, the couple became eager to buy. “My peers, people I went to high school with, my friends and family, were already homeowners,” said Ms. Roman, who is director of patient relations at the hospital.

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Brooklyn A co-op on Ocean Parkway was near work. But the layout wasn't quite right and the buyers felt the pool would be wasted on them.Credit
Caleb Bryant Miller for The New York Times

They wanted a two-bedroom two-bathroom place, preferably with a washer-dryer and a parking spot. Their top price was $450,000.

Their inclination was to live near the hospital on Ocean Parkway, where some buildings have water views. They went to see a sunny three-bedroom two-bath co-op on the top floor of 2650 Ocean Parkway. The price was $399,000, with monthly maintenance in the mid-$1,400s.

But the layout wasn’t quite right. The building had a laundry room and parking, although there was a waiting list for that. The swimming pool seemed unnecessary. “I am going to enjoy a pool only on the weekends eight weeks out of the year,” Ms. Roman said.

They moved on. The apartment later sold for $317,000.

The couple decided to look for a house on Staten Island, where they had once lived and where Ms. Roman’s sister owned a house. They fell for an adorable three-bedroom saltbox with one bath and a beautiful yard on Fingerboard Road, asking price $359,000.

Inside, “the house looked like you stepped into 1923,” Mr. Soto said. “Every light bulb had a chain where you could click it on and off.”

They thought about removing walls and adding a bathroom. " The bathroom was in the slopey side of the house and I am 6-2,” Mr. Soto said, “so I would have to be tilting to take a shower.”

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Staten Island A house on Fingerboard Road, was cute as a button. But it would need renovations and the buyers were iffy about yardwork.Credit
Caleb Bryant Miller for The New York Times

Renovations would be costly, and Mr. Soto joked that he was going to need the help of Sabrina Soto, the host of “The High/Low Project” on Home and Garden Television.

“We always think about Sabrina Soto coming in and redoing our life,” Ms. Roman said. “My husband, in his head, thinks he is related to her.”

Then they thought about what it takes to maintain a house and a yard. “My sister had that and we knew the hardship,” Ms. Roman said. “A house looks really appealing. I grew up in the projects, and it seems really American-dreamlike. But I started to think, what am I getting into?”

The deal-breaker was the shared driveway. “I didn’t want to knock on the neighbor’s door every time I had to come out or go in,” Ms. Roman said. “I didn’t want to live like that.”

Her sister had mentioned the Pointe, a new condominium building on Bay Street, near the ferry terminal. So they stopped by an apartment on the top floor with two bathrooms, a washer-dryer, the kind of open kitchen they wanted and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the distance.

The couple’s immediate reaction, Mr. Soto said, was “yeah, this is it.” He was reminded of the TLC show, “Say Yes to the Dress.” “It boggles my mind that these women see 400 dresses and then say yes,” he said, explaining that it can be the same way with a house: “You walk in and you just know.”

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Staten Island The Pointe, a new condo on Bay Street, nailed the wish list: open kitchen, two bathrooms, washer-dryer.Credit
Caleb Bryant Miller for The New York Times

They paid $395,000 for the place. Monthly charges and taxes are in the high $400s.

Indoor parking at the Pointe is free. The couple budgeted for gas and tolls. “Staten Islanders are the only people who have to pay to come in to their borough,” Mr. Soto said. “In all other boroughs, there are ways to drive in without paying.”

The Pointe is now 75 percent sold, said Linda Nassaney, the sales manager for the Pointe. The building weathered Hurricane Sandy well, with just a brief power outage.

Ms. Roman and Mr. Soto, thrilled to be homeowners, arrived early this winter.

In the morning, Mr. Soto said, “I take my tablet, log into Facebook and take a picture of the sunrise. Every single morning is something spectacular, even when it’s foggy. A lot of people say, ‘oh, you’re going to get tired of that.’ I really don’t.”

Life now involves far less waiting. A bathroom is always available. Having a washer-dryer is “the greatest feeling in the world,” Ms. Roman said.

The couple commute to work together, crossing the Verrazano at 7 a.m. Mr. Soto drops off Ms. Roman at the hospital and continues on to his new workplace at the Luna Park Senior Center. He is a coordinator for the federal Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutritional program, and his old hospital office was flooded by the hurricane.

He knows which four cars on the block are about to leave. So he sits with his mug of coffee, listening to Steve Harvey’s “Morning Show” on the radio, waiting for just a few minutes until a departing motorist emerges from the Luna Park Houses across the street.

Now, it’s a 20-minute trip to work. They are still never late.

Correction: March 24, 2013

The Hunt column last Sunday, about Patricia Roman and William Soto’s search for a home in Brooklyn, misidentified the part of the borough where Coney Island is. It is southern, not South, Brooklyn.